Good news or bad news depending on one's point of view: surgery on my lower back is scheduled for Wednesday March 8. Might be back to work two weeks after that.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting to hear about my short term disability claim. I keep checking the Cigna website, and still... nothing. So frustrating. Maybe it's in medical review...

Then there's the medical bills. It'll be 16 months before it's all paid off (monthly payments). That's not even counting the bills I'll get from everybody from the anesthesiologist to the OR janitor... ugh. Just the same, it's better to be alive with a bill to pay than dead for free.

Otherwise, George the dove is doing well, I got the bird feeders all filled up this afternoon without a great deal of pain involved, and I was scolded by an enraged wren after I pulled its nesting materials out of the dryer vent and covered the hole with a nylon stocking. I don't think the wren really thought that site through--a dryer vent is no place to raise a family!

I know I am being a nitpick here but there are certain places you should just NOT text--- movie theater, stage plays, while driving, and church. Surely nothing is so important that it can't wait an hour or two. And if you text while driving you are risking the lives of other people as well as your own. Put the phone down for petes sake.

Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem. Ronald Reagan.

War Admiral wrote:I know I am being a nitpick here but there are certain places you should just NOT text--- movie theater, stage plays, while driving, and church. Surely nothing is so important that it can't wait an hour or two. And if you text while driving you are risking the lives of other people as well as your own. Put the phone down for petes sake.

And, for those who just cant wait while in the car- more and more cars have blue tooth technology- you can voice activate and send and receive calls and texts. I agree that there is a proper place and time for technology.

When car/cell phones came out and I saw people using them behind the wheel, I thought that there really no reason to be on one unless you are in labor or having a heart attack needing help.

Sorry, but using hands-free tech doesn't really address the accident-causing aspect of divided attention in a driver.
If you're trying to compose a message, or carry on a conversation with someone who is not in the car (and I even tend to restrict those ), you're not paying 100% attention to driving a multi-ton mobile weapon of destruction.

They had the HARDEST time getting blood samples from me. Apparently my hemachromatosis kicked in big-time, because according to the nurse, my blood was like 'sludge'. Really, really thick. Then when they had to put in the IV, it took at least nine different pokes before a vein finally came up and stayed. I woke up in a daze, and spent another hour or so being pestered to stay awake, as my oxygen levels dropped whenever I fell asleep. Then we ate a baked potato at Wendy's and went home. I have to wear a back brace whenever I'm out of bed (Velco has become my enemy). When they were helping me get out of the gown and back into my clothes, I accidentally pulled out the IV line and dripped blood on the floor. "Wow... it is thick!" Fortunately I didn't feel anything, and the sight of blood doesn't bother me a bit. I can even watch those Pimple Popper and ear-cleaning videos on YouTube with nothing but a sense of fascination and deep sympathy for the people suffering through such things. (Just don't make me watch anything to do with eyes. I can't handle that.)

Nausea really troubles me, too--I've tossed up one meal so far, but today's Tex-Mex hasn't bothered me yet. <fingers crossed> So for the next six weeks, it's no bending, lifting, twisting or driving. I can walk pretty well, with barely any pain, but I tire out pretty fast. I also have ugly bruises on my wrists. I call it the 'Crimean War Vet Look'.

Ventage: because I've used so much short-term disability and have no personal time off remaining, I can only use 4.8 hours per day of STD starting 2/27 until I go back to work on 3/29 (my follow-up with the surgeon is 3/28, and if he says I have to wait longer to go back to work, I may strangle him with my back brace). That really ticks me off, but there's nothing I can do about it, so I'm not being paid full wages. Grrr...

The bill for the surgery: over $2400. I can pay in monthly installments, and the way it's set up, I'll have paid it off by next February. I haven't even received the bills from the anesthesiologist. Maybe I won't feel anything.

The doctor also wouldn't approve a handicap placard for more than a month, so there's no point in trying for that (Mom has one in her car, so since I ride with her anyway, it's not a big deal), and he also wouldn't approve me getting a laptop for work, so that I could work while in bed. I guess that would be kind of bad for me, as one's arms can get rather tired while typing in a prone position.

I also have absolutely no idea what horses are in the running for the Kentucky Derby. Which is my own bloody fault, but it still ticks me off. I'm so far behind...

And the Kenya Jockey Club still hasn't sent me any info on that country's classic winners' pedigrees. Zilch. It would be great to get that before I go back to work, but I have the sad feeling that nothing will ever come of it.

I got a new phone (an LG Rebel something or other) and the SD card keeps 'unmounting', which drives me crazy.

Someone once showed me some gruesome photos of someone killed while texting and driving. <shudder> I only answer my cell in my car if my passenger can talk. Otherwise, I ignore the call or pull over. Why risk anybody's life? I don't even text, really, but it seems like nobody looks up any more while walking. They're always texting (and, sometimes, smacking into walls or tumbling into fountains).

Drat it all. I had a root canal done 8 or 9 years ago, and it had to be redone 5 years ago. Yesterday, I started having pain near there, and it got way worse overnight, to the point where I can't chew on that side of the mouth and any pressure on that tooth (which has a crown) hurts a LOT.

And I can't go see the oral surgeon today because my child is sick with diarrhea.

If I were having to have a root canal redone three times within 8 or 9 years, I think I'd find a new dentist.
Sorry your child is sick, but I hope you can get in to see your oral surgeon soon. I'm sure you know that letting an oral infection fester is a big NOPE.

BaroqueAgain1 wrote:If I were having to have a root canal redone three times within 8 or 9 years, I think I'd find a new dentist.
Sorry your child is sick, but I hope you can get in to see your oral surgeon soon. I'm sure you know that letting an oral infection fester is a big NOPE.

Yeah, I'm going in tomorrow morning. The canal has been done by two different endodonists and I'm seeing a third one tomorrow. So everyone is having trouble with it, apparently. I have a small mouth and it's a back top tooth, which makes it difficult. But I am so annoyed.

You have my sympathy. I also have a very small mouth, which made getting to my back teeth an exercise in fitting large square fingers into a small round hole.
Fortunately, I found an excellent female dentist about a decade ago. She has small delicate hands, and I have no longer have anxiety about visiting the dentist.

BaroqueAgain1 wrote:You have my sympathy. I also have a very small mouth, which made getting to my back teeth an exercise in fitting large square fingers into a small round hole.
Fortunately, I found an excellent female dentist about a decade ago. She has small delicate hands, and I have no longer have anxiety about visiting the dentist.

The worst part is the plastic thing they put in your mouth to hold it open. The first place (which was in NYC with a woman endodontist) didn't have a small enough thing, so they just shoved it in there and I had cuts in my gums and insides of my cheeks... AND it took two appointments.

My dentist is awesome. She also has smaller hands. And my dental hygienist looks like Molly Shannon.

I don't need a root canal. I need the tooth removed because the root itself is starting to crack. But this is the only tooth that ever gives me trouble, so maybe once it gets removed, I can live my life. Since it's so far back, I'm going to try not getting an implant put in - apparently doing that will require restructuring my sinuses on that side of my face.